


Exchange

by RedTeamShark



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Agender Character, Anxiety, Canonical Character Death, Character Death Fix, Episode Fix-it, Gen, Offscreen character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-12-27 09:01:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12077883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTeamShark/pseuds/RedTeamShark
Summary: “Sorry won’t ever change anything.”“It’s a first step."





	Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hey canon. Fight me.

“Turn back now and you can walk away from this… alive,” Carolina offers them, keeping her gaze steady on the soldier across from her. Their posture is tense and she tenses in return, but they seem to almost be considering her offer. She can beat them, or at least hold them off long enough… but this fight is only a delay. Sharkface isn’t the enemy, not the way Felix and Locus are… not the way she was led to believe they were during Freelancer, either. _Come on, take the offer._

Their posture shifts slowly, more aggressive, the hesitation leaving them. “Something’s gotten into you…” The flamethrowers in their wrist guards pop out as they draw a hand back. “And I’m going to rip it out!”

Defend. Defend, defend, defend. Try not to think about parallels. Fail not to think about parallels.

 _You wanna hit them sometime today, C?_ Epsilon asks in her head, mentally tapping a foot. _Or are you enjoying making me run all over the place with the healing unit?_

 _Just keep helping me block, E. They’ll wear down eventually_ .

“Fucking _fight me_!” Sharkface bellows, taking another swing at her, flames shooting from their wrist guard. “If you think you can beat me, then _fight_!”

“I know I can beat you, but I–” Carolina jumps back as they try to sweep her feet out from under her, “–I don’t want to.”

“The only way you get out of here alive is if you kill me, Freelancer.” They charge her again, land a solid hit against her chest. Epsilon shouts and her armor braces at the knees to prevent her from moving back more than a step. A moment later the healing unit passes cool numbness through her chest. That flamethrower has to run out of fuel eventually.

_They’re not going to give up, C. You have to take them down._

_No. I can outlast them._

Another hit connects and this time she _does_ stumble. This isn’t working.

“Carolina, it’s Wash. When can you get to the LZ?”

 _Great,_ this _is the kind of distraction we need while fighting the fucking lu–_

Sharkface is in too close again and Epsilon cuts himself off as another punch comes. _Left_!

 _No shit, thanks, E._ Carolina grabs their arm, knee lifting into their chest. “Kinda… hard… to say!” She answers Washington between knees, throwing Sharkface as she finishes. So much for defending only.

"Well, we’re gonna need you pretty damn soon. Doyle’s driving to the reactor.” Carolina spares a glance for Sharkface, but–for the moment, undoubtedly–they’re still down. She sets a hand against her helmet.

“Doyle?”

“Long story. Kimball and I are heading back to help you.”

Sharkface is still down. There’s no time for Wash and Kimball to get all the way to her and all three of them to go after Doyle. The LZ at 51st and Tenor is where they need to be headed. But how…? She tilts her head up, grinning behind her helmet. Monorail. Perfect. “Wait. How about I come to you?”

“…What?” No time to explain her plan, not with Sharkface still breathing. She watches the line, bracing herself.

“Make sure the extraction point is clear and get ready for one hell of an entrance.”

Apparently tired of just complaining inside her head, Epsilon’s hologram pops up as she counts seconds in her head. “You know, that intersection isn’t really close. I can’t handle your speed boost for that long!”

Carolina cocks an eyebrow. Three… two… one… “Can you handle one jump?”

“A jump?”

There is it. She watches it pass overhead, glancing at Sharkface as they start to get up. Have to time this perfectly… _Now!_

Carolina jumps, boosted by Epsilon. Glass shatters around her as she lands in the car and she grins, leaning out the window for a last look as Sharkface regains their feet.

“Thank god for public transportation.”

 _You can say that again, E. Set up a timer, I need to know when my stop is_ .

 _On it, Caroli–aw, shit_ .

Shit is about right. She braces for another round of defending as a grappling hook crashes into the car, Sharkface at the other end of it.

“You can run, Agent Carolina, but you can’t hide.”

“I’m not trying–” another hit to her abdomen makes her grunt in pain “–to run. Or hide. Why do you have to fight me?”

“You dropped a building on me. You took away the only family I ever had. And then you thought you could just… walk… away…”

 _Two minutes._ Epsilon notes. _I’m running a little ragged here, C, not gonna lie_.

 _Timer and healing only, E. I got the rest of this._ Hopefully. “We were all being lied to. The Freelancers, the Insurrection–”

“That’s not who we were!” The rage is back like smoldering coals fanned to life by a stiff breeze. Sharkface grabs for her and she puts her arms up, lets them grasp her wrists instead. “We weren’t some fucking _uprising_ against the UNSC, _you_ were! We were a personal security unit that Leonard _fucking_ Church decided to have his pet freaks kill!” They shove her back suddenly, catching her off guard and throwing her into the back wall of the train car. They stalk towards her slowly as she gets up again. “Church and Hargrove get into a pissing match and all my friends end up _dead_ because of _you_.”

“I’m sorry.”

 _Oh, yeah, that line’s gonna work_ this _time, C. Sixty seconds_.

“I’m sorry for what happened to them and what happened to you. I’m sorry that you were used. And I’m sorry that you’re _still_ letting yourself be used. Felix and Locus don’t care about you. Hargrove doesn’t care about you. They’re not your family and they won’t care if you make it out of this city.”

“That… That doesn’t matter.” Hesitation. Just what she needs. “Sorry won’t ever change anything.”

“It’s a first step. You don’t have to keep fighting like this. You don’t have to keep letting yourself be hurt… and lost… and alone.” She swallows, holds out her hands. “You’re allowed to move on. You can heal.”

“To move on…? To _heal_? I’m _allowed_ to do these things?!” Sharkface’s fist slams into the wall next to her head and she ducks low, throws them across the train car with a shoulder to their sternum. They slide across the floor on their back, hitting the back wall. “Fuck you, Agent Carolina! You don’t get to dictate what I do!” They pick up the grappling hook they’d used to get onto the train, firing it at her. Carolina dodges out of the way, grabs the line as the hook sinks into the wall behind her and yanks. The grappling hook leaves their hand, whipping along the line and into hers.

“I gave you a chance.” She says softly, yanking forward and ducking. The door hits them as they try to stand and she jumps out after them. This is her stop, after all.

Carolina lands in the middle of the intersection. Sharkface hits the pavement in a heap to her left. In front of her, Wash raises his gun. “Don’t bother, they’re down for the count,” Carolina notes, glancing back and spotting Kimball at the far side of the clearing. She turns her comm on. “Doyle, I’m at the LZ. What’s your ETA?”

“I just need a few minutes to–oh, dear.”

Gunshots on her comm and shouting voices. That’s not good. “Doyle?!”

“Uh, Carolina…” Wash’s voice cuts over the line and she looks at him, frowning. “They’re getting up. Again.”

Carolina turns, watching Sharkface. ‘Getting up’ might be a bit of an overstatement, though they’re certainly trying. They gain their hands and knees, remain there unsteadily for a moment, then fall again. “This… isn’t over, Agent Carolina.”

_Is this guy for fucking real?_

“It’s over… Just… just give it up.”

“Give it _up_? As long as I can still breathe… as long as I’m still alive… I’ll _never_ give it up. I will _always_ be after you… I’ll… I’ll…” Sharkface manages to get to their knees, pulls the pistol from their thigh holster and lifts it.

 _That shot’s going to go about six feet to your left and two over your head. They’re beat. Just put them out of their misery,_ Epsilon offers.

Wash raises his gun, but Carolina holds up a hand. “You don’t have to keep fighting us.”

“What else am I going to _do_?! What else is the point of being _alive_?!” They shout, a surprising amount of force behind the words. Their gun lowers a bit, inches to the right.

 _That’s gonna hit you, though_ .

 _Thanks, E. Thanks a lot_ .

Before Sharkface can pull the trigger, the butt of Kimball’s gun connects with the back of their head. They collapse forward and she steps up, kicks the pistol away from them and towards the others. “We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for fucking anything. Doyle, status report.”

“Not… not good.”

“Do you need back-up?”

“There’s no time, I’m afraid. And I’m rather surrounded. Have the Reds pick you up in their Pelican and… “ Even with the distance and distortion of the comm line, Doyle’s stiffening upper lip can almost be heard. “And Godspeed to you all. Agent Washington, Agent Carolina, it’s been an honor working with you. Miss–General Kimball, I know you’ll do the right thing for this planet.”

“Doyle!”

“You’ll only have about a minute after I place the detonator until the city is blown up. I’ll try to hold position until you’re at safe range, but you’ll have to let me know as soon as you are.”

“Doyle, you can’t do this!” Kimball shouts as the Pelican lands. “Let us come help you!”

“It’s just as you said… Sometimes you have to risk lives.”

“There’s no time!” Simmons calls, waving them towards the Pelican. “We have to go!”

Carolina moves over to Kimball, taking her arm. “Come on. Let him do this.”

“But–”

Wash joins them, crouching and picking up Sharkface’s unconscious form. Their helmet falls off as he does and Carolina stops at the sight of their face. Those burns… she did that. Another thing to repent for on a list that she’d almost thought she’d reached the bottom of. “We can get information from them and find out where Felix is. Where he’s going. Then we’ll stop him before he uses the sword.”

“It’s not about the fucking _sword_!” Kimball snaps, yanking her arm out of Carolina’s grip. “It’s about not letting someone else die needlessly in this war!”

“My death will hardly be needless, Kimball. Go, now. Your people need you and–” Doyle yelps. “And I can’t buy you any more time!”

There’s nothing else to do. They hurry onto the Pelican. Lopez takes off a moment later.

When the explosion hits, they’re not out of range, but Carolina and Epsilon help that.

* * *

“You think I’m going to talk?” Sharkface all but snarls the words through a mouthful of blood, staring at the soldiers that surround them on the Pelican.

“I do,” Carolina’s voice is quiet but there’s an edge of steel to it. She meets their gaze steadily through her helmet, unflinching at the pure hatred there. “I think that you know you’re being used by Felix and Locus… used by Hargrove. Again. I think you know that this won’t bring your friends back, won’t allow you the closure that you need. But we can help you. We can get you that closure.”

“Fuck you! You don’t even know what it’s like–”

“To lose everyone? To have nothing left? To see yourself turned into a monster? Oh, I know what it’s like. And I know what it’s like to blame yourself.” The edge of steel leaves her voice and she reaches up, presses a hand against the support strut that they’re tied to. “I know what it’s like to spend every second replaying the ways you failed your team… your friends… your family. I know what it’s like to mourn… and I know what it’s like to accept what happened and try to heal. Isn’t it time you did the same? Working with Felix and Locus, listening to Hargrove… that isn’t moving on. That isn’t healing. Help us, and we’ll help you. You can honor their memories, instead of hurting from them.”

Silence fills the Pelican as Sharkface stares at her, before they abruptly turn away. “I won’t talk. You’re better off just killing me.”

Carolina sighs, stepping back again. “Fine. We’ll try again later. But just so you know, you’re running low on time before we let Doctor Grey at you. Ever hear of a pirate named Zachary Miller?”


End file.
